Drew’s Spatial Data Center

Helping Faculty, Staff, and Students Leverage GIS

Geographic Information Systems include the hardware, software, and community involved in the collection, visualization, and analysis of spatial data. Any piece of information with a reference to location counts as spatial data. GIS give us mechanisms to work with a wide collection of information from disparate sources, allowing us to analyze weather patterns, identify hot spots of disease, forecast changes in population distribution, and respond promptly to disasters.

GIS is currently being used by professionals in sectors as diverse as environmental protection, health and human services, utilities, and law enforcement to analyze data, troubleshoot problems, allocate resources, and improve services to citizens.

GIS Map Projects at Drew

Integrating Spatial Data Analysis and Mapmaking into Drew’s Curriculum and Campus Life

Drew’s Spatial Data Center is committed to teaching GIS and mapmaking technology to Drew students, faculty and staff. Maps and spatial data analysis are powerful tools that can be used to spark class discussion, enhance critical thinking, and improve the University’s business processes. Below are some examples of the work the Spatial Data Center has already done to engage faculty, staff, and students in using this exciting technology.

Boat Dock Inventory for the Lake Hopatcong Foundation

Advanced GIS students Max Dolphin and Dan Ratyniak digitized over 2,000 boat docks as part of a community partnership with the Lake Hopatcong Foundation and New Jersey State Parks Department to assess development along the lake shores. Two web maps products from their work show the lengths of the docks, and the lot and block for the parcel associated with each dock, as well as the tax records associated with each parcel.

EPA-TRI Partnership

Students in the Spring and Fall 2014 semesters of GIS studied the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory in great detail, to learn about the distribution of environmental hazards in relation to demographic measures, the impact of hurricanes on industrial facilities, and local participation in pollution prevention programs. Joe Sollod and Theresa Campbell will present their work in an EPA webinar for Dillard University Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.

Great Swamp Watershed Association – Trail Map Updates

With GPS in hand, Kaylie McNeil helped update trail maps for the Great Swamp Watershed Association and for Lord Stirling Park. She also assessed ecological diversity, land use, LiDAR, and forest characteristics for these parks.

Looking at Drew’s Commuter Habits

(click on the image to see the full-sized poster)

Do you drive to Drew? GIS Support Specialist, Krista White, did a speculative analysis of the carbon output of Drew employees who commute by automobile. The analysis uses zip code information to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide that would be produced by employees if they all drove to work each day. The analysis is restricted to a 50 mile radius of Drew, but provides much food for thought. If you drive to get to work on campus, the map and accompanying data may cause you to think more about alternative transportation.

Using GIS to Encourage Healthy Habits

Katen Moore of the Drew University’s Morris Health Services Center published a web site that uses GIS to create walking maps on and around the Drew campus. The goal of the site is to encourage students, faculty, and staff to get out and get more exercise. She has linked her maps to a number of resources on the benefits to health provided by walking as few as 10 minutes every day. Visit the Walk Drew web site.

Mapping Black Methodism

Methodist Librarian Christopher Anderson learned skills in ArcMap 10 to geocode addresses, calculate their latitude and longitude coordinates. He is entering those coordinates into a Google Map to document the history of Black Churches in the Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church.

GIS for Campus Health and Safety

GIS and Civic Engagement

The Spatial Data Center at Drew is involved with a number of community partners in civic engagement projects to help them utilize GIS technology to support their missions. We are currently partnered with the Ironbound Community Corporation, helping them to map hazardous air pollutants and other toxins in the Ironbound community of Newark, NJ (for more information, see the GIS Summer Intern project below). We are helping the Communities of Shalom use GIS to create interactive, online maps of their Shalom Zones that promote peace and local community development in the U.S., Africa, and Haiti. The Spatial Data Center is also discussing a partnership with Haitian Artisans for Peace International to help them create online interactive maps and provide spatial data to map resources in the town of Mizak, Haiti.

Summer GIS Intern Helps Fight Medical Waste Incinerator in Newark

Zoe and GIS Support Specialist, Krista White, created a map utilized by ICC to present information to the City of Newark to help fight the construction of a medical waste incinerator in the Ironbound. The Newark City Zoning Board voted down the construction of the incinerator in October of 2010. The full story of Crum & White’s map can be read in Drew Today.

Analyzing History Using GIS

Dr. Wyatt Evans, Associate Professor of History, is investigating the use of GIS to explore population statistics in the Ohio River Valley between 1860 and 1870. The Spatial Data Center supplied Dr. Evans with the map product you see at the right, comparing the population of African-Americans in Indiana counties of the Ohio River Valley.

GIS Data Resources

Below you will find links to data resources to be used in GIS projects. For help with any of the listed resources, or to request an appointment or suggest additional resources, contact GIS Specialist Lisa Jordan at (ljordan@drew.edu) x3740.

Data Resources: International Data

Census data from 44 countries and 130 different census projects. Be aware that any data sets from this site will be using standard map projections and coordinate systems different from those used in the United States. As a result, adjustments may need to be made in your map files to accommodate these differences.

Data Resources: U.S. Data

Provides Tiger/Line shapefiles for the digital map base for a geographic information system or other mapping software. These files provide the outlines for U.S. state shapes and other basic digital, visual information and data onto which maps may be built. The files do not contain mapping software.

Nationalatlas.gov

The new National Atlas of the United States, providing a comprehensive, map-like view into the enormous wealth of geospatial and geostatistical data collected for the United States. It includes electronic maps and services that are delivered online.

Links to datasets for roads, bridges, and highways across the U.S.. Also contains links to other types of data gathered by other federal agencies, including the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis is an independent research consortium dedicated to basic research and education in geographic information science and its related technologies, including geographic information systems (GIS). Look in the Education section of their web site to find resources for teaching interdisciplinary spatial analysis skills.

Spatial Data Center Available Services

The Spatial Data Center offers a number of support service for members of the Drew community. To request services or suggest additional service, contact GIS Specialist Lisa Jordan at (ljordan@drew.edu) x3740.